Alternative modelling programs
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Forgive my blasphemy, but what other modelling/CAD programs do you use?
Id really like to find soemthing thats better for producign plans than SU and layout. I've had a bit of a play around on solidworks at college but theyve only got it on 1 machine, so its not really possible to get into it.
So what programs do you recommend?
- topic:timeago-later,10 days
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Solidworks is the industry standard. Fairly easy to learn too. It does cost money though. If someone could help on the cost of SW that would be good. I've been living off of trial versions from a machinist friend.
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I use Rhino 4.0, which will read and write SU files and now has the ability to pretty much function as a full AutoCAD replacement (lineweights, plotting layouts, the equivalent to XREFs...it's all there now). It's fairly inexpensive (USD 995), especially for students (USD 195, for a full license not some crippled educational version).
Rhinoceros 3D
Rhinoceros 3D: Design, Model, Present, Analyze, Realize...
www.rhino3d.com (rhino3d.com)
And did I mention that it is a full-package NURBS modeler? All of these organic shapes we crave in SU have been there for years. I took my certification course in the program from a jewelry designer, which says something about the level of accuracy of which Rhino is capable.
This is a kind of jokey example thing ("a sculpture that encloses space") I whipped up in a few minutes for a beginning 3D design class I'm currently teaching for graduate architecture students:
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Moi works fine with SU + Podium!
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And also for easy nurbs like Sketchup spirite Moment of Inspiration Only modeling but strongest export in OBJ format!
Cool for small objects with tensile structures and complex Boolean operations! A zen program complementary to SU
Architecture by Spezia
Boat by Frank
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MOI was actually developed by a former programmer for the company that makes Rhino (it actually uses the Rhino file format, 3dm)...Frenchy is right: it is a fine program, worthy of greater attention among designers. Like SketchUp, however, it is hard to conceive of it as a full CAD replacement, whereas Rhino aspires to that (no kidding...I have to meet with McNeel reps to talk about the class I teach and that is what they say they are trying to do, among other things. But they do seem a little insecure about programs like SketchUp and Moi, and they were contemptuous towards Spaceclaim, another Rhino-related piece of software).
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I'll have to have a look at rhino. is there anywhere youd recomend for good video tutorials?
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@remus said:
I'll have to have a look at rhino. is there anywhere youd recomend for good video tutorials?
RhinoTV!
Here:
(I have to admit that I have only given this a cursory look as a potential resource for my students. I'm not sure Rhino TV covers, yet, the less-3D and more traditional-CAD-like uses of the program. But it's the swoopy eye-candy that sells the software, and this site comes out of a McNeel office.)
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Thanks for the info Lewis.
Rhino is a program I have had in the back of my mind for a while now as one I would like to learn. I have noticed more Architectural Practices advertising for people with skills in Rhino.
I shall go check out RhinoTV and see what it can do. -
Dear Lewis,
Why were the McNeel reps so contemptuous about SpaceClaim? I am interested as I am about to be given a copy to try out (Pro version). I half expect to use it the way I use Sketchup, and then to export to Inventor 11 for final modelling and drafting. I have watched many of the tutorials and the program has the same feel to it as Sketchup with a minimum of tools.
Any feedback would helpful.
Regards,
Bob -
Dear Lewis,
Many thanks for the detailed reply. By the way, do you teach at a Higher Education Institute? If so, I suggest you contact your SpaceClaim rep and ask what the deal is for an educator. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Kind regards,
Bob -
@watkins said:
Dear Lewis,
Many thanks for the detailed reply. By the way, do you teach at a Higher Education Institute? If so, I suggest you contact your SpaceClaim rep and ask what the deal is for an educator. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Kind regards,
BobI believe they will just give me a license while I'm an instructor, Bob...but I will contact them and find out exactly what the mechanism for that is. Thanks.
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Bob,
I met with the local rep just to get a sense of where the program was going before I taught the class, and I brought up Spaceclaim because it is a "local product" which makes much of its interchangeability with Rhino. And it really does work read and write 3DM files well. And it's about the least money you can spend on a BRep solid modeler.
But the rep was utterly contemptuous..."Everything I could ever want to do with that program I could do faster with Rhino." That is hardly a statement I could challenge, but the odd issue is that Rhino is (even when it makes a "solid" object) really just making a closed NURBS polysurface, not a solid in the same sense as a BRep modeler (which is what Spaceclaim makes). There are some "solid editing tools" now available in Rhino, but for all but the most simple objects they tend to fail (it's apparently related to the old Boolean operations/trimmed NURBS surface limitations), requiring one to operate at the level of individual surfaces again.
The rep is an industrial designer, not an engineer or an architect, so this may be simply his experience or his applications for modeling software.
Right now, I'm a little more interested in MOI than Spaceclaim as a way of producing "swoopy" 3D things in a quick, intuitive fashion, but I'll probably eventually end up getting licenses to both. (I tend to get deals as an educator.) On the other hand, I've been using Rhino, by itself, for six years so I can generally get any shape I want with a minimum of fuss...
Incidentally, in case you are wondering, the most astonishing development in the Rhino world I discovered during my meeting is not some secondary program but a beta plugin called
"explicit history."http://en.wiki.mcneel.com/default.aspx/McNeel/ExplicitHistoryPluginMainPage.html
Youtube:
It's a visual, node-based scripting language!
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Dear Lewis.
That is pretty much it. I was surprised when I found out. Like AutoDesk's Inventor package, I was expecting a good educational discount, but SpaceClaim has obviously decided to promote the software in schools and universities. A wise move as today's student is tomorrow's user and buyer.
I will let you know how I get on when I have the software. I have too much to do at the moment and so I don't want to be distracted by something new. Sketchup is bad enough.
Regards,
Bob -
Solid modelling - Inventor
Surface modelling - SketchUp Pro
CAD - ChoiceCAD (16 bit UK version, available now as AllyCAD) This was my second CAD program, after X-CAD on my Amiga, and I still love it for quick 2D drawings.
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Has anyone here tried silo? it looks quite interesting (and more importantly a bargain!)
- topic:timeago-later,7 days
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I just downloaded it. The interface looked very easy to get into. Very interesting modelling app.
Previously I've used Rhino. Think it was version 3, or 2, we used at uni. We used it mostly to create 3D working drawings of the models we made. (I did a modelmaking course)
Had a quick look at the Penguin render for it, but never really got into experimenting. Haven't tried v4. Is it much different from v3? -
How about Flamingo or any of the other zoo animals?
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@thomthom said:
How about Flamingo or any of the other zoo animals?
The new version of Flamingo is (or soon will be) the version of this
for Rhino. (Accurender is another McNeel line.) I've downloaded the beta (or is it alpha?) but I haven't had a chance to play with it much. The built in Rhino Render has been improved so much that for many purposes it is almost enough, with a judicious addition of post-processing and some layering with Penguin, for my purposes.
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Lewis, look at http://www.sketchucation.com/forums/scf/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=235
sketchup had it...mmm RPS
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